Star Tribune Editorial
It will take several days for Minnesotans to dig out from the 2010 Dome-buster that brought back memories of the Halloween blizzard of 1991.
But digging out is what we do best, even if relatively mild winters in recent years have us out of practice.
A popular Twin Cities radio host often lampoons "weather terrorists" -- the meteorologists who sometimes swing and miss with their predictions of dangerous storms.
This time, the meteorologists were on target, and the weather created its own kind of terror.
Even with reliable forecasts, it's difficult to plan for the kind of storm that hit here Friday night and Saturday. The intensity of the blizzard, with historic Top 10 snow depths and strong winds from the northwest, left many observers searching for adjectives.
For a generation of Minnesotans who weren't alive in 1991 or were too young to remember the year winter began in October, the weekend storm of 2010 will serve as a weather rite of passage -- a memory they'll share with their own kids in the years to come.
Conditions were so bad Saturday that snow plows were ordered off the roads in some parts of the state, and dozens of buses were stuck and out of commission in the Twin Cities. In St. Paul's Highland Park neighborhood, some motorists abandoned cars in the middle of unplowed streets, while others worked with strangers to push cars out of deep ruts. The fact that the storm hit on a weekend prevented even more traffic mayhem.
